A wartime election

Madison had won a first term overwhelmingly in 1808, and his presidency was—and would continue to be—dominated by foreign affairs. In 1810 he had proclaimed nonintercourse with Britain, ceasing trade and promising war if the British did not cease seizure of American goods and vessels. Though tensions grew, Madison sought peace. By 1812, however, Madison was under pressure from the so-called War Hawks to make good on his promise. In June the War of 1812 was declared, creating a wartime backdrop for the election. Madison was renominated for president by the Democratic-Republican congressional caucus in May 1812, but some one-third of the members refused to attend. Some of the dissident Democratic-Republican lawmakers rallied around DeWitt Clinton, the mayor New York City and a former U.S. senator. In New England and Virginia the failing Federalist Party proposed candidates to run against Madison, but in the end they were forced to throw in their lot with Clinton.

James Madison.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

DeWitt Clinton, detail of an oil painting by John Wesley Jarvis; in the National Portrait Gallery, …

Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

In the pro-war South, Clinton was touted as a warrior, and in New England his campaign emphasized his dedication to peace. However, in the end he was not able to garner enough support to secure the election. Madison took all the southern and western states, winning 128 electoral votes, while Clinton won much of the antiwar north, capturing only 89 electoral votes. Madison, the country’s first wartime president, dealt with the state of the war with Britain in his second inaugural address

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